UNAIDS warns that after significant reductions, declines in new HIV infections among adults have stalled and are rising in some regions

A new report by UNAIDS reveals concerning trends in new HIV infections among adults.

20 Jul 2016

Globally, new HIV infections among adults and children were reduced by 40% since the peak in 1997. However, new analysis from UNAIDS shows that new HIV infections among adults have stalled, failing to decline for at least five years. The report outlines what is needed to step up prevention efforts.

The Prevention gap report shows that while significant progress is being made in stopping new HIV infections among children (new HIV infections have declined by more than 70% among children since 2001 and are continuing to decline), the decline in new HIV infections among adults has stalled. The report shows that HIV prevention urgently needs to be scaled up among this age group.

HIV prevention gap among adults

The Prevention gap report shows that an estimated 1.9 million adults have become infected with HIV every year for at least the past five years and that new HIV infections among adults are rising in some regions. ThePrevention gap report gives the clear message that HIV prevention efforts need to be increased in order to stay on the Fast-Track to ending AIDS by 2030.

Eastern Europe and central Asia saw a 57% increase in annual new HIV infections between 2010 and 2015.

After years of steady decline, the Caribbean saw an 9% rise in annual new HIV infections among adults between 2010 and 2015.

In the Middle East and North Africa, annual new HIV infections increased by 4% between 2010 and 2015.

There have been no significant declines in any other regions of the world.

In Latin America the annual number of new adult HIV infections increased by 2% since 2010; New HIV infections declined marginally in western and central Europe and North America and in western and central Africa since 2010; New HIV infections among adults declined by 4% in eastern and southern Africa since 2010, and by 3% in Asia and the Pacific since 2010.

“We are sounding the alarm,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “The power of prevention is not being realized. If there is a resurgence in new HIV infections now, the epidemic will become impossible to control. The world needs to take urgent and immediate action to close the prevention gap.”

The AIDS epidemic has had a huge impact over the past 35 years. Since the start of the epidemic, 35 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses and an estimated 78 million people have become infected with HIV.

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